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Forum DIET & CARE Ramps Need Traction?

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    • MimzMum
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        Of late, Pip has been doing a lot of scrambling in her night pen, usually to get up and down the ramp leading to her shelf where she sleeps.

        It’s your typical Superpet pen, has those nice little notched ramps that are still, to a bunny’s toes, as slippery as a just waxed floor. She scratches and scurries up that thing-making a terrible lot of noise in the process and seems to barely reach the top safely. Up or down is usually followed with sonours thumping…perhaps to say, “VICTORY!” Or maybe instead, “Dangit! Mom cleaned all my surfaces again and now I got no brakes!!!!”

        I also notice that she sometimes goes a little bananas on the floor of the pen, same slippery plastic-since she eats bedding, there’s nothing between it and her, and I am not sure if she’s either getting itchy in there with the house heat/dryness of the air and then furiously scratching herself silly, or if she just flips out in there, perhaps due to her apparent claustrophobia.

        I would think that, with regular time out in the xpen, she would feel less confined and also less skittish. And she’s what I would call a very able bunny, I don’t imagine, especially at the gradient that I have the ramp positioned at, that she is incompetent at climbing to her second level.

         

        SO I’m wondering what I should put on the ramp to make it easier to climb? It can’t be a fabric, she tears and eats anything remotely resembling cloth…I don’t know what she’d do with a swatch of carpet, but I’m not sure want to find out. 0_o;

         

        Any suggestions? And should I get something that can be placed on the floor of the pen as well as the ramp so maybe she does a little less thrashing around and then maybe her poor neighbors (read: me & Mimzy) can get some decent sleep at night?


      • Lightchick
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          Would she eat plastic outdoors flooring (like astroturf type stuff?). What about roll-out plastic no-slip shelf-liner? Just throwing out the first things that pop into my mind…


        • PeppersMama
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            i was going to suggest the no slip shelf liner…very cheap and if she does chew it it can easily be replaced. just cut to size and clip on with binder clips!


          • MimzMum
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              Oh yes…she does love plastic! >.< I have a hole in the base of the pen to prove it…and the corners of her litter pans…and the ramp itself (down the side)

              Astro turf sounds good, but I’m afraid she’d eat it. But thanks for the idea.
              Where does one find no slip shelf liner? Is it in the housewares section of a grocery store or do you have to go to Home Depot or something?


            • Lightchick
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                I’ve normally gotten it at Target or Walmart, in the section with the housewares products (dishdrainers and tupperware and the like). But it’s a pliable plastic that she might like to nibble…if she goes for plastic and cloth, this feels sort of in-between the two…it might not work either…


              • MooBunnay
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                  Home Depot sells small wood peices that are like dowels, except cut in half lengthwise, so there is one flat side and one round side. You could glue these to the ramp, one about every two inches, and that would provide some traction. Home Depot also sells a rubber type flooring that you could cut and clip to the ramp. Even if she does like to chew plastic, it is pretty inexpensive to replace! Also, fleece blankets work pretty well for chewer bunnies because they don’t have any threads to pull on.


                • MimzMum
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                    Cool, there’s both WalMart and Home Depot near her, so I’ll have to go take a look. Thank you for suggesting it.

                    But polar fleece, MooBunnay? Wouldn’t pieces of that block up her insides?

                    Yeah, I don’t understand her deal with plastic. Now mind, most plastic things she just tears up and spits out, but I’m sure she’s downed some of it because compared to what’s missing there isn’t enough left on the floor to compensate. And yet, I never see anything untoward in her droppings. :-/

                    However, I can’t leave a night cover over her pen to keep sunlight out, nor can I allow her to have recycled bedding because she’ll just chow most of it. Drives me nuts. Her diggy boxes have to be filled with things she can eat. I attribute it to too much time in a pet store tank with only shavings to sleep/pee/poop on. And yet, the large pen I have for her is still not enough, I can see where she’s trying to dig through it to escape! 0_o


                  • MooBunnay
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                      If she does eat the fleece you would have to take it out – but it tends to be less tempting (at least for my bunnies) because there aren’t any loose threads for them to play with or pull on. But yes, if she was munching pieces of it down you would have to take it out.


                    • Lightchick
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                        You know, now that I think of it, I think I’ve gotten the no-slip shelf-liner at Home Depot too. You can just go to one place to browse and save yourself the trip. What about a solid-foam of some sort? Like insulation-padding type stuff? Would she want to eat that?

                        I’m trying to think of something a rabbit that LIKES plastic AND cloth wouldn’t like, any I’m at a loss! Maybe MooBunnay’s got the right idea with the wood…Although be careful with the glue. You might have to ban bun from the ramp until the glue dries…wood glues need the pieces you’re gluing to be clamped together REALLY WELL while drying in order to be of any value, as well…


                      • Beka27
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                          watch her with the no-slip shelf lining. it’s a foam-like material and i think it’d be a BIG chewing temptation… bigger than a blanket…


                        • kimberleyanddarren
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                            how about those things you put in the shower to stop you sliping? You know they have those little bubbles on to hold your feet still?


                          • osprey
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                              I have been told that you can also use contact paper (wall paper with an adhesive on it).  This is the stuff that you can line the shelves of your cabinets with.  Not sure if this is a chewing magnet or not, I have yet to try it.

                              I have been having a problem with Deanna sliding on the coroplast in their pen when the other bunnies chase her.  Anita from For Other Living Things gave me a good tip – use 12″ x 12″ ceramic tiles, but places them upside down.  The underside is rough so that the tile grout will stick to it.  This is a surface with good traction, no bunny chews ceramic, and the tiles are heavy so they are hard for the bunnies to move.  I am using these on shelves, and they are working out OK so far.

                               


                            • GrammyB
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                                Have you tried taking the ramp out to see if Pip could hop up to the shelf? Or you could try a box as a mid-level hop up. I know the type of cage Pip has, we have one too & it’s just too small for a rabbit. We found out it was even to small for a guinea pig, they need 7.5 sq ft or more for one pig!
                                It’s a good thing you are just using it at night & Pip gets more space during the day. Have you ever thought of making a NIC cage?

                                Fleece is something you should try, our buns will eat towels, but they mostly 😉 just bite the fleece. When I fold them I see little “C” shaped cuts. When I use that cage I put a litter pan on the end w/o the shelf & cover the rest of the bottom w/folded fleese.

                                Have you tried wood stove pellets for litter? They work great! I don’t know if Pip would eat them though, our buns don’t.

                                Osprey, are you talking about the shelves or the bottom? We cover the coroplast on the shelves w/old sheets or flanel folded under & taped out of reach. The bottom just has a bunch of phone books & card board. The granite tiles we have are sharp on the under edge. Good the ceramic is working for you.


                              • MimzMum
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                                  Thanks everyone, these are all really good ideas!
                                  Yanno, Mimzy gets up on his shelf without a ramp, but he prefers to use the ramp to get down. Pip seems to have no such interest in jumping up to the shelf and I am worried that if she would have to jump straight down off it that she’d hurt her front legs, maybe to the point of shin splints later on in life. >.<

                                  And yes, I’ve been prompted to build NIC condos, just don’t have the room for it right now. Working on getting the bunnies their OWN room where they have freer range and total bunny-proofing. ^_^


                                • Kokaneeandkahlua
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                                    I used carpet …poked holes in it and ziptied them to the ramp. You can have my ramps though LOL now Ruperts confident enough to jump without a ramp


                                  • kimberleyanddarren
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                                      the carpet sounds a good idea, how about nailing some peices of wood on so its kinda like …|….|….|… you know?


                                    • Kokaneeandkahlua
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                                        Yeh like some dowels along the ramp I like that idea


                                      • taryn1245
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                                          hi guys, I’m new here.   About rabbits chewing/eating things they shouldn’t- I read somewhere online that bunnies hate the taste of ivory soap bars so I rub every thing she likes to chew but shouldn’t with this.  It works for me but my bunny is old now so she’s more sedate than when she was young.  I used to have wood blocking off all my lower walls and baseboards and now I’ve been able to take that down bc she won’t chew on the soaped walls.


                                        • Sarita
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                                            Hi Tara, I am going to lock this post because it is 4 years old…

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                                        Forum DIET & CARE Ramps Need Traction?